Countries where ASL or a derivative of ASL is the national or a widespread language include Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana ( with BSL ), Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, the Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d ' Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Kenya ( minority use ), Liberia, Madagascar ( minority use ), Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Philippines ( L2 use ), Puerto Rico, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Trinidad and Tobago, Togo, and Zimbabwe ( with ZSL ).

* 1897 – Franco-Hova Wars: The town of Anosimena is captured by French troops from Menabe defenders in Madagascar.

The genus is native to Africa, and is common in the Cape Province, the mountains of tropical Africa, the islands of Africa including Madagascar, and the Arabian Peninsula.

* 1897 – The town of Ambiky is captured by France from Menabe in Madagascar.

It is also found in pegmatite in Madagascar and in Brazil.

It is located in the southern Mozambique Channel, about half-way between Madagascar ( which is to the east ) and Mozambique, and northwest of Europa Island.

Mauritania and Madagascar are the only remaining countries that do not use the decimal system ; instead, the Mauritanian ouguiya is divided into 5 khoums, while the Malagasy ariary is divided into 5 iraimbilanja.

The privately operated Comoran Navigation Company ( Société Comorienne de Navigation ) is based in Moroni, and provides services to Madagascar.

The Dodo ( Raphus cucullatus ) is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

Europa Island () is a 28 km² low-lying tropical island in the Mozambique Channel, about a third of the way from southern Madagascar to southern Mozambique.

The island has been a possession of France since 1897, but is also claimed by Madagascar.

It is the only known breeding site outside Aldabra and Madagascar for Malagasy Pond Herons.

For example, on the Madagascar high central plateau, comprising approximately ten percent of that country's land area, virtually the entire landscape is sterile of vegetation, with gully erosive furrows typically in excess of 50 meters deep and one kilometer wide.

The surviving tropical population of primates, which is seen most completely in the upper Eocene and lowermost Oligocene fossil beds of the Faiyum depression southwest of Cairo, gave rise to all living species — lemurs of Madagascar, lorises of Southeast Asia, galagos or " bush babies " of Africa, and the anthropoids: platyrrhine or New World monkeys, catarrhines or Old World monkeys, and the great apes, including humans.

Mainly or partially francophone or francosphere countries include France, Belgium ( Wallonia is almost entirely francophone, and there is a large French-speaking community in the Brussels-Capital Region and a few bordering municipalities ), Canada ( the province of Quebec is francophone, and there are large French-speaking communities in Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and other Canadian provinces ), United States ( South / Central Louisiana and parts of Maine ), Switzerland, Haiti, the French West Indies and several countries in Africa, including Congo, Burundi, Madagascar and Rwanda, that are former French or Belgian colonies.

* 1897 – Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force.

The island is located off the east coast of Africa, to the north of Madagascar, and boasted a high standard of living, an excellent economy, and freedom from the political and racial turmoil that characterized neighboring nations.

It is an island south of Madagascar.

The Mascarene Plateau is 2000 km long undersea plateau that lies east of Madagascar.

Lemuridae is a family of prosimian primates native to Madagascar, and one of five families commonly known as lemurs.

Island nations within the ocean are Madagascar ( the world's fourth largest island ), Comoros, Seychelles, Maldives, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka.

At, Madagascar is the world's 47th largest country and the fourth-largest island.

The island is home to two-thirds of the world's chameleon species, including the smallest one known to date, and researchers have proposed that Madagascar may represent the origin of all chameleon species.

Further debt relief constituted another infusion of favorable developments for Madagascar when on June 11, 2005, at a pre-G8 summit meeting in London, world leaders agreed to write off $ 40 billion in debt owed by the world's poorest countries.

Since the mid-1980s, the donor community, led by the World Bank and the USAID, has recognized that Madagascar is one of the world's most unusual natural wonders.

The majority of the world's vanilla is the V. planifolia variety, more commonly known as Bourbon vanilla ( after the former name of Réunion, Île Bourbon ) or Madagascar vanilla, which is produced in Madagascar and neighboring islands in the southwestern Indian Ocean, and in Indonesia.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, Madagascar is currently responsible for the vast majority of the world's Bourbon vanilla production and 58 % of the world total vanilla fruit production.

Madagascar is the world's largest producer.

It also is the world's second-largest producer of vanilla, after Madagascar.

The republic is the world's second largest producer of vanilla, after Madagascar.

Iceland remained for a long time one of the world's last larger islands uninhabited by humans ( the others being New Zealand and Madagascar ).

It is home to five percent of the world's plant and animal species, 80 percent of which are endemic to Madagascar.

The occupation of France during the Second World War tarnished the prestige of the colonial administration in Madagascar and galvanized the growing independence movement, leading to the Malagasy Uprising of 1947.

Starting in 1713, Rogers had conceived the idea of leading an expedition to Madagascar to suppress the pirates there and establish it as a British colony.

Madagascar has but one master .” The king died in 1828 while leading his army on a punitive expedition against the Betsimisaraka.

By the late 19th century French plans to colonize Madagascar were gaining momentum, leading British mercenaries to provide training to the queen's army in an unsuccessful bid to repel the French troops.

A subset of Stone Age humans, including Ngaro Aborigines, developed ocean-worthy outrigger canoe technology, leading to an eastward migration across the Malay archipelago, across the Indian ocean to Madagascar and also across the Pacific Ocean, which required knowledge of the ocean currents, weather patterns, sailing, celestial navigation, and star maps.

In the first match in the 2006 FIFA World Cup and 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Botswana drew at home with a Madagascar side ranked 146th in the world at the time, leading Botswana FA to sack manager Colwyn Rowe despite his leading Botswana to their highest ever ranking of 95th.

Theme park operator Six Flags Inc, based in New York, staged a contest as part of a promotion leading up to Halloween in which it also offered customers free entry or line-jumping advantages if they ate a live Madagascar hissing cockroach ;

It was later introduced to Madagascar which has become a major producer.

By 1898, Madagascar, Réunion, and the Comoros Islands produced 200 metric tons of vanilla beans, about 80 % of world production.

Madagascar ( especially the fertile Sava region ) accounts for much of the global production of vanilla.

* Bourbon vanilla or Bourbon-Madagascar vanilla, produced from V. planifolia plants introduced from the Americas, is the term used for vanilla from Indian Ocean islands such as Madagascar, the Comoros, and Réunion, formerly the Île Bourbon.

In 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that chefs from " hipster hangouts and retro landmarks " are using " macerated farmers market strawberries, Valrhona chocolate and Madagascar Bourbon vanilla " to make new milkshake flavors.

The dessert consists of five scoops of Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream infused with Madagascar vanilla, covered in 23-carat edible gold leaf, rare Amedei Porcelana and Chuao chocolate, American Golden caviar, passion fruit, orange, Armagnac, candied fruits from Paris and marzipan cherries, and decorated with real gold dragées.

* The Vanilla-flavored pieces have been made by specially selected vanilla from Madagascar.

Chambord is made from red and black raspberries, Madagascar vanilla, Moroccan citrus peel, honey and cognac.